title: Assessing therapist reservations about exposure therapy for anxiety disorders: the Therapist Beliefs about Exposure Scale.
abstract: Exposure therapy is underutilized in the treatment of pathological anxiety and is often delivered in a suboptimal manner. Negative beliefs about exposure appear common among therapists and may pose a barrier to its dissemination. To permit reliable and valid assessment of such beliefs, we constructed the 21-item Therapist Beliefs about Exposure Scale (TBES) and examined its reliability and validity in three samples of practicing clinicians. The TBES demonstrated a clear single-factor structure, excellent internal consistency (αs=.90-.96), and exceptionally high six-month test-retest reliability (r=.89). Negative beliefs about exposure therapy were associated with therapist demographic characteristics, negative reactions to a series of exposure therapy case vignettes, and the cautious delivery of exposure therapy in the treatment of a hypothetical client with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Lastly, TBES scores decreased markedly following a didactic workshop on exposure therapy. The present findings support the reliability and validity of the TBES.
authors.affiliation: University of Wyoming, USA. Electronic address: bdeacon@uwyo.edu.
authors.forename: Brett J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Deacon
authors.forename: Nicholas R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.forename: Joshua J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: Jennifer T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Sy
authors.forename: Annie R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Patrick B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: McGrath
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011364:Professional Practice; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Anxiety disorders; Cognitive-behavioral therapy; Dissemination; Exposure therapy